MotoGP – Malaysia – 250cc – Bati wins!
In even hotter conditions that the 125cc race, Mapfre Aspar rider Alvaro Bautista rode to a dominant victory at the Malaysian Gran Prix in Sepang.
Starting badly from second position on the grid he quickly worked his way up the order and arrived at the lead group with Aoyama, Simon, Kallio and Simoncelli. However, soon after that the KTM machines of Kallio and Simon had to retire due to mechanical problems which left a trio at the front fighting for victory. Alvaro’s only option to keep Simoncelli from winning the championship was to win the race at Sepang and hope for other riders to go faster than Simoncelli. But with Julian Simon ultimately retiring with mechanical problems and the second group being over 7 seconds behind Simoncelli, it was enough for him to bring home third place, partly riding more than 2 seconds slower than Alvaro Bautista.
Realizing that there were no other riders fast enough to catch up with the lead group and therefore steal points from Simoncelli, Alvaro went on to at least ensure another victory at the Malaysian track, even breaking the four-year-old lap record from Dani Pedrosa in the penultimate round with degrading rubber. However, this victory was not enough to keep Simoncelli from mathematically winning the championship.
Alvaro will now look forward to close the season with another win at his home track in Valencia and to make up for this season’s bad luck next year.
Pos. Rider Nation Team Total time
1 A. BAUTISTA SPA Mapfre Aspar Team 42’56.428
2 H. AOYAMA JPN Red Bull KTM 250 + 2.586
3 M. SIMONCELLI ITA Metis Gilera + 8.343
4 Y. TAKAHASHI JPN JiR Team Scot 250 + 11.032
5 A. ESPARGARO SPA Lotus Aprilia + 13.846
6 A. DEBON SPA Lotus Aprilia + 14.274
7 R. LOCATELLI ITA Metis Gilera + 15.101
8 R. WILAIROT THA Thai Honda PTT SAG + 16.987
9 T. LUTHI SWI Emmi – Caffe Latte + 25.356
10 L. PESEK CZE Auto Kelly – CP + 26.846
11 F. LAI ITA Campetella Racing + 49.907
12 K. ABRAHAM CZE Cardion AB Motoracing + 50.088
13 A. BALDOLINI ITA Matteoni Racing + 1’05.816
14 S. GROTZKYJ ITA Campetella Racing + 1’15.544
15 I. TOTH HUN Team Toth Aprilia + 1’19.905
16 M. HERNANDEZ SPA Blusens Aprilia + 1’35.890
17 D. ARCAS SPA Blusens Aprilia + 2’00.717
18 D. PRADITA INA Yamaha Pertamina Indonesia + 2’28.842
Not classified
M. PASINI ITA Polaris World 5 Lap
J. SIMON SPA Repsol KTM 250cc 9 Lap
M. KALLIO FIN Red Bull KTM 250 15 Lap
H. FAUBEL SPA Mapfre Aspar Team 16 Lap
